A judge has approved a €15,000 settlement for a child, who at the age of 16 months had been allegedly mistreated by staff at a crèche which was at the centre of an RTÉ Prime Time exposé.
The documentary, Crèches - Behind Closed Doors, revealed how underpaid staff at the Hyde & Seek Crèche and Montessori on Dublin's Tolka Road mistreated children in their care.
Pia Mulligan, now aged almost eight, sued the crèche owners through her mother Cora Mulligan, of Meadowbank Green, Miller’s Glen, Swords, Co Dublin.
Barrister Mema Byrne, who appeared with Mullany Walsh Maxwells Solicitors, for Pia, told Judge Gerard Meehan in the Circuit Civil Court that the defendants, including Anne Davy, of Lindsey Road, Drumcondra, Dublin 9, had made a settlement offer of €15,000 with a €17,000 contribution towards the child's legal costs, which she was recommending to the court.
Ms Byrne said Pia’s mother had outlined in written evidence how she believed her child had been mistreated, bullied and abused in a range of ways by various members of staff at the Hyde & Seek crèche.
Ms Mulligan outlined how in April 2019 her daughter had received a bite mark to her face from another child after having been moved from a wobbler room to a toddler room, placing her outside her age group, and in breach of TUSLA guidelines.
She stated that in June 2019 she had arrived at the crèche to discover a distressed single member of staff, holding an infant of less than one year on her hip while simultaneously attempting to supervise 15 children of mixed ages.
In July 2019 Ms Mulligan had noticed red marks on her daughter’s back which looked like someone had handled her carelessly and had taken her daughter out of the crèche altogether.
Ms Byrne told Judge Meehan that on 24 July 2019 RTÉ Prime Time Investigates carried a documentary titled Crèches - Behind Closed Doors in which negligence and false imprisonment breaches of bodily integrity of children became known.
From RTÉ footage it appeared staff were engaged in flipping children on their stomachs and forcibly holding them down at the crèche. Milk was watered down and children were fed food lacking in nutrition. Staff were recorded shouting at and mishandling children.
Ms Byrne said the documentary showed a policy of placing children in high chairs and confining others in overcrowded cots, putting them at risk. Mistreatment had been shown as a regular occurrence in the crèche as well as poor hygiene.
Pia’s mother also told the court her daughter would mimic mistreatment of children by applying similar abuses to her dolls when putting them to sleep at home.
Ms Byrne said there had been a test case taken in the High Court which awarded one child €15,000 damages together with a contribution to legal costs. She said that because Pia had not been shown in the documentary and as there was a difficulty with evidence regarding her injuries, she was recommending the settlement offer to the court.
Judge Meehan said Ms Byrne and the child’s mother, Ms Mulligan, had set out an upsetting series of events that must have been as upsetting for the parent as for the child involved. He felt the evidential deficit in Pia’s case would be a factor that would influence any court.
"There are significant hurdles to be traversed and it would be difficult, I think, to clear any of those hurdles and particularly difficult to clear all of them," Judge Meehan said.
He said that in the circumstances he would approve the €15,000 offer and costs.
